Most famous in the English-speaking world as Elsinore Castle, the setting for Shakespeare’s 1602 play Hamlet, Kronborg Slot juts into the water at the Øresund’s narrowest point. You can explore the grounds without a ticket, but it would be a shame to miss the inner palace, full of grand views and elaborate art. Even better is the descent into the spooky maze of casemates, subterranean dungeon passages barely lit by flickering paraffin lamps.
History
The building mostly post-dates Shakespeare's play, apart from the chapel and the dungeons. A star-shaped system of moats, walls and bastions surrounds this UNESCO-listed masterpiece, crowned with baroque green copper spires.
The fort, then known as Krogen, first took shape at the command of King Erik of Pomerania in the 1420s, and along with its counterpart of Kärnan in Helsingborg, got busy collecting the Sound Dues from passing ships. These tolls made Helsingør rich, allowing Frederik II to expand the castle in 1585. A 1629 fire destroyed most of the interior, bar the chapel. The castle took another blow when it was occupied by Sweden from 1658 to 1660, after which Christian V shored up the defenses, but the Danish royals largely lived elsewhere. It served as a barracks from 1785 until 1924, when it took on its present-day role as a museum. The outhouses were used as barracks until 1991.
Royal Apartments
The Royal Apartments cover two floors. They're still furnished to give a sense of their use. You can visit what was, in 1585, the longest ballroom (62m) in Scandinavia. The decadent banquets held here were legendary: guests were equipped with buckets to purge their way through the 65-course marathons. Rooms nearby house the king's tapestries, some of which depict Danish kings through the ages.
The Chapel
The castle chapel dates from 1582 and is still used for Mass and concerts. It survived the fire of 1629, and so retains its Renaissance trappings. It was used as a powder magazine and fencing hall for a time, but restored in the 19th century.
Cannon Tower
Across the wide courtyard are entrances to the 145-step Cannon Tower. Climb to the roof, the former site of the castle cannons. There are big views from here over to Sweden.
Casemates & Ogier the Dane
Enter the dark, clammy casemates from the courtyard. As you enter these low-ceilinged dungeons, the temperature drops and you'll feel the chill on your neck in the dimly lit storerooms and soldiers' quarters that stretch into the gloom beneath the castle. Around 1000 soldiers could shelter down here, with supplies to last sieges of up to six weeks. Down here the legendary knight Holger Danske (Ogier the Dane) rests, in statue form. According to legend, he is awaiting a moment of national peril, when he will awake and defend the motherland.
Shakespeare at Kronborg Slot
Despite setting one of his most famous plays at Kronborg Slot, Shakespeare had never been to Denmark. It’s thought that the setting for Hamlet (1602) was inspired by tales of the newly expanded castle, which were spread by traveling players as well as Danish nobles Frederik Rosenkrantz and Knud Gyldenstierne, who met the Bard in England in the 1590s. Their surnames might sound familiar – the two were written into the play as Hamlet’s childhood friends. Hamlet was first staged at the castle in 1816, and you can see a performance for yourself every August when Kronborg hosts the open-air Shakespeare Festival.
